Western Australia border reopens after 697 days as the ‘hermit state’

Arriving passengers at the Qantas domestic terminal in Perth, Australia. Western Australia’s border will reopen at midnight. Photograph: Paul Kane/Getty Images

After 697 days and one false start, the “hermit” state of Western Australia is on the precipice of rejoining the rest of the world – again.

The premier, Mark McGowan, has promised to throw open WA’s gates from midnight Wednesday as the state moves headlong into its first full-scale Covid wave of the pandemic, with daily case numbers swelling into four digits.